The Final Battle
by Quicksilver11567
Summary: Percy is finally ready to face Kronos. My take on the final battle. Reviews welcome and very much appreciated. Updates once I've guaged intrest.
1. Chapter 1

I Get Some Very Unexpected Help

I ran into the throne room. Kronos was reclining leisurely on his throne. His scythe propped beside it. His golden eyes gleamed evilly.

"I have to admit, I never expected you to make it this far." said Kronos casually. "But no matter. This gives me the privilege of killing you myself."

"Let Luke go, Kronos." I said, uncapping Riptide.

"Funny how you think you can just march in to _my_ fortress and start barking orders." said Kronos harshly.

"I won't tell you again." I said angrily. "Let - Luke - go."

Kronos stood up and picked up his scythe.

"Why don't you _make_ me."?

I don't know why I did it, but I did by far the stupidest thing I have EVER, and I mean _**EVER**_ done. I charged at Kronos.

He casually held up a hand and as I got closer, he flicked me in the forehead with one finger and knocked me back all the way across the room. He began walking towards me.

"Well, well, aren't we anxious?" he said mockingly as he swung his scythe at me and I rolled out of the way and picked up Riptide. I blocked as he swung again. I got up and ran at him, but he just weaved to the side and swung at me again. I ducked just in time and took a swipe at his legs, but he just laughed, blocked it and kicked me in the ribs, causing me to keel over.

"Well, Perseus Jackson, it's been fun....." he said.

As Kronos raised his scythe to finish me off something happened. He froze.

"What is this?!"

A burst of golden light filled the air and there, standing in front of Kronos, slightly ethereal, and arms outstretched, was Luke.

He was like I remembered him. Orange tank top, khaki shorts, the leather necklace, more so, the old unruly sandy hair and kind, bright sapphire blue eyes.

"What?! Impossible!" said Kronos.

"I've let you do a lot of things Kronos. I let you warp my mind; turn me against my friends and family. I've done your dirty work, trained your army, and set you and your brothers free. But I never, _NEVER_ said you could have my body!" Luke shouted.

"How!?" Kronos bellowed.

"Percy!" Luke shouted, "Speak the incantation! I can't hold him for much longer!"

That was just about the biggest red flag I had ever seen. I extended my arms and waved my hands _"By the power of Hades, purge his essence from this vessel and hurl it back to the abyss from whence it crept!" _I shouted.

Kronos roared with rage and an aura of darkness surrounded Luke's body as he hovered into the air.

"Thanks Percy." said Luke's image as it vanished and the aura of darkness dissipated and formed into a small black ball.

Luke's body fell from the sky. I ran forward and caught him.

"Thanks... again... cuz." he said then lost consciousness.

"It's O.K, Luke, you rest." I said and laid him down gently on the ground.

"Pity." said the voice of Kronos. "He was such an excellent pawn, but I must admit, a most unsuitable vessel."

The Titan appeared in full form. Twenty feet tall, heavily armored, wielding the scythe. Two gold eyes gleamed out of the darkness within the helmet.

"How?" I asked. "That spell should have sent you back to Tartarus!"

" 'Should have'." said Kronos. "I merely drained the boy's life force to be able to withstand it. Much like I've been doing for years now." he looked at the unconscious Luke. "I don't think he has much left. He used a good bit of what he had left to project and bind me. Maybe I should just-" he began to walk towards Luke, but I stepped in front of him.

"I don't think so." I said.

"Why save him?" Kronos asked. "He tried to kill you in cold blood numerous times."

"I don't care." I said, "He's my friend."

"Friend?" Kronos asked. "I thought you hated him?"

"Yeah, I did. But that was before I knew the truth...."

"How foolish." said Kronos, firing a blast of darkness at me.

I jumped out of the way and ran.

As I turned around I saw Kronos getting ready to fire another blast at me.

And I had no time to defend. I closed my eyes and waited for the end, then came the sound of darkness rushing towards me.

But I was still standing. I opened my eyes to see Luke standing in front of me, arms spread out, smoke rising from his body. Then he fell to the ground.

He had taken the hit for me.

"Luke!" I shouted, and ran over to him. His chest was badly burned; he was pale and obviously growing weaker. He was fading, and fast.

He looked up at me and gave a strained smile. I could tell he was barely clinging to life.

"Finally..............I.... find..... redemption........" he murmured weakly.

"Luke, stay with me!" I told him, but suddenly Kronos picked me up and hurled me to the side, then ran after me.

I landed on my feet and dodged Kronos' swift downward slice. I ran back towards Luke, and stood in front of him and raised my hands as Kronos charged towards me. I willed the water in the fountains to rise and hurled them at him, delaying his advance for a few moments.

"Father......................please..................help...................me........" I heard Luke murmur weakly.

"Don't speak." I told him. "Save your strength."

I barely had time to parry Kronos' strikes. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it up for much longer. If Hermes was going to answer Luke's prayer, he'd better do it fast.

I kept blocking for a few moments until Kronos broke through my guard. It was over, I knew it, but suddenly I felt a rush of wind from behind me and he was blasted backwards across the room.

I turned around to see Luke propped up on his right arm, his left hand extended, the symbol of Hermes, the caduceus, was glowing on it. I had to admire his resiliency.

His prayer had been answered.

"How?" bellowed Kronos.

"The Messenger travels across the four winds therefore they do his bidding." Luke said standing up. "As one of his sons, they will do so for me as well." a caduceus appeared in his hand. "And now it's payback time."

I walked up to him. "Good to have you back."

"Good to be back." said Luke, giving me a weak smile, despite being empowered by his father, in reality; he was still very, very, _**VERY**_ weak.

"Two on one?" I asked.

"You know it." he twirled the caduceus and the orb with dove wings descended to the bottom of the shaft and its wings folded up. and the snakes moved down along it and tightened to form a grip and widened their last link to form a kind of cross guard, the shaft lengthened and flattened into a blade.

"Cool." I said.

"Now we draw blades_ together_."

I smiled.

"Well, looks like two for the Pit." said Kronos. Then he charged.

"What do we do?" I asked him.

"Fight for as long as we can. With any luck the others are on their way." said Luke then he raised his hand. "_Wind, become my binding chain."_

Four air currents rippled from his hand and wrapped around Kronos, then Luke flicked his wrist slamming him into the wall. Kronos burst out of the wall and rushed at Luke who leapt into the air, and wings burst from his shoes. Hermes was answering in overdrive. Luke took a downward swipe as he did a back flip over Kronos, leaving a gash in the Titans armor and landed behind him. Kronos spun around and swung across with his scythe, Luke leapt into the air and out of the way. I ran towards the Titan but he was too fast, he spun kicked me and sent me flying backwards, Luke ran as the wings grew from his shoes and he flew towards me, got behind me and caught me. Lucky thing too because at the speed I was going, if I had hit that wall I'd have been squashed flat. But now we were both rocketing towards the wall, but Luke pushed off with his feet and forced us towards the ground. We landed and he set me down.

"Thanks."

"Let's call it even." he said.

I nodded. I had to admit, Luke had an advantage. Having been Kronos vessel meant he knew all his moves and was able to attack, defend, and counter attack easily. He was being careful to avoid being hit and I couldn't blame him. He was running on his father's energy. One solid hit and he'd be down if not totally out.

Kronos charged at Luke, who started dodging and weaving to avoid getting nailed. Kronos tried to punch him, but Luke weaved to the side and dug his blade into a chink in Kronos armor, right above the elbow and the blade passed all the way through his arm. Kronos roared in fury.

That's when it happened. Kronos kneed Luke right in the stomach and kicked him back. Luke fell to his knees clutching his chest and gasping for breath. I didn't think he'd be getting back up.

"Aim for the chinks!" he shouted at me, his voice was so strained it was barely even human. He propped himself up with his sword. But Kronos had turned and ran down a hallway behind the throne.

I turned to Luke. "Where does that lead?"

"Up to the Sarcophagus Room. Where he heals. Go, I'll be fine."

I didn't want to leave him but I turned and followed Kronos. I was halfway up the second flight of stairs when he turned around and grabbed me.

"You have nerve to follow me." he said, I remembered what Luke had said and embedded my sword in his left arm above the elbow. He dropped me and swung his scythe, I parried, He continued swiping and I continued parrying as we started backing back down the stairs and hallway. As we neared the Throne room I heard Thalia's voice.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you!"

"I don't have one." I heard Luke's strained voice say. "I've been terrible to all of you. But I'm not his vessel anymore, I swear."

"Why should we _believe_ you!" I heard Annabeths voice says. "Why should we _trust _you?"

At that moment, Kronos kicked me and hurled me back over the throne and across the room.

Everyone looked over at me. Luke was lying on the ground and Thalia had her spear pointed at his throat. Annabeth had grabbed his sword and was holding it an inch from his chest. Clarisse had her spear pointed at him as well, Lee had an arrow notched and pointed at him.

"Well, there's that." said Luke weakly, pointing at me. "And then there's that." he pointed down the hallway where Kronos was emerging.

"_Oh, Luke!"_ said Annabeth, her eyes filling with tears, kneeling down next to him.

"It _is _you!" said Thalia dropping her spear and falling to her knees beside his broken body, placing a hand on his cheek, tears welling from her eyes as well. Tyson walked over to him, got behind him and propped up his upper body.

"I missed you." he whispered to her. "Both of you." he weakly raised a hand and caressed Annabeths cheek. She took hold of it and held it.

"You girls take care of Luke." I said. "Beckendorf, Nico and I will hold off Kronos."

"Hey!" said Clarisse.

"Ok, fine." I said, "Clarisse'll be with us."

Beckendorf and I charged at Kronos from the sides while Nico conjured a pillar of hellfire and Clarisse lept into the air and came down on Kronos with her spear. Beckendorf swung his hammer but the blow was parried and Kronos picked him up and hurled him at Clarisse, which knocked both of them back across the room.

"Listen to me." I heard Luke tell Annabeth and Thalia. "I don't have much time."

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked tearfully.

"I've......lost too much life force." murmured Luke. "I don't have the strength to get up, let alone fight. I barely have the strength to speak. Just know that I love both of you, very, very much."

A look crossed Thalia's face, like she had an idea. She took out the bag of ambrosia squares and broke some off and gently fed it to him. Annabeth took out the nectar thermos and poured some down his throat.

"Without these, your wounds never healed properly." Thalia told him gently, softly stroking his face and continuing to feed him ambrosia.

Luke's breathing steadied and some color began to return to his face. He began to get up uneasily. Thalia and Annabeth flung their arms around him, nearly knocking him back over. He hugged them both as Annabeth handed him his sword.

"Now let's kick some Titan tail." he said and smiled.

They ran up beside me as Silena took out her butterfly knives and Lee notched a few arrows

Luke stood beside me.

"You gonna be O.K?" I asked him.

"Five ambrosia squares and a full thermos of nectar and I feel better than ever." he said, breaking into a large grin.

I laughed.

"Olympus prevail?" he asked holding out his fist.

"Olympus prevail." I said and bumped his fist with my own.

"Not so fast." said Kronos as he snapped his fingers, and we where all blasted backwards. Then he turned and walked back down the hallway.

We ran towards the doors but they slammed shut and iron bars braced them shut.


	2. Chapter 2

We Get Distracted, AGAIN

It didn't take Tyson long to rip open the doors with his bare hands, we ascended the steps and entered a wipe room.

"Well hey there Luke." said Kelli from the doorway. She has wearing what appeared to be a flaming scarlet backless dress.

"Kelli, fancy seeing you here." Luke said flatly.

"I killed you!" Annabeth blurted out.

"I always was a fast reformer." said Kelli.

Annabeth raised her dagger.

"I really did like you you know." she said, walking up to him and touching his cheek.

"Oh did you now?" asked Luke. "Then you'll have no problem letting me through."

"Now see," she said pulling out a keris. "I can't do that. Lord Kronos' orders. No one gets through. Not even you."

She snapped her fingers and_ dracaenae _began emerging from the hallways on the sides of the room.

"Come on Kelli. Let me through."

"You hurt me so much..." she cooed as she started to stroke his face. "I was your most loyal attendant. I helped to nurse you back to health after your fall from Mount Tamalpais." Here she softly ran a finger across his lips. "All those feverish bouts of weakness and illness. I helped you through them all."

Thalia held her spear tightly and had a livid expression on her face like she was about to lunge at Kelli, but I noticed Luke's right hand was placed behind him in a kind of "on my signal" gesture, which I discretely pointed out to Thalia.

"All those," she moved closer to him and wrapped her other arm around him." Heated nights where I held you in my arms during your darkest nightmares."

Thalia was about to explode, I swore I could see lightning crackling in her eyes.

"I'm still loyal to you you know." Kelli whispered in Luke's ear, running a scarlet fingernail down his scar. "Leave them behind and come with me. We can be together." She made to kiss him, but Luke held up two fingers and pressed them against her lips.

"I would babe, but, umm, I have other plans." he said and his hand switched to a thumbs up.

"Hey, toots." said Thalia, taking her cue, and Kelli looked at her angrily. "Hands off the goods." She smacked her in the face with the butt of her spear, sending her sprawling backwards onto the ground.

"Kill them!" she shouted angrily rising to her feet, and the_ dracaenae _began to advance.

"Ladies," said Luke to the snake women. "Been awhile, care for a latte, or a nice rat?

They gave a shrill hiss and kept advancing.

"Guess not." he said. "You guys handle the _dracaenae_. I'll take care of Kelli."

"Oh no you don't." said Thalia. "We'll take her together."

"Why?"

"You aren't back at full strength yet." she said, placing a hand on Luke's shoulder.

"You're going to pay for that girlie!" Kelli shrieked, but she remained in human form and her fingernails turned to brass claws and her eyes flared red, then she charged at Thalia.

But Thalia raised her shield and Kelli recoiled. Meanwhile, we were parrying _dracaenae_ blades.

Beckendorf swung his hammer and knocked a row of them aside and Silena killed two with her butterfly knives. Tyson caught one by the tail and hurled it into the wall, then grabbed another and swung it, slamming it into its colleagues. Nico and I started swinging and jabbing, felling a few with each swing. Clarisse was waving her spear like a crazy woman while Grover just closed his eyes and swung his club around. Lee was firing arrows into the hordes trying to climb up the pillars to jump down on us from the ceiling; monster dust filled the air every time one found its mark. Annabeth was dodging and weaving and slashing with her dagger.

Luke was dodging as well; Kelli was swinging her Keris at him, her high heels making tapping noises on the marble as she moved. She sweep kicked at his feet to try to knock him off balance but he lept over her foot and swung at her with his sword. She parried it and moved around him. Thalia shot lightning out of her spear at Kelli, but she lept nimbly out of the way. She took a swipe at Thalia but she blocked it with her shield.

"Give up." laughed Kelli, "it's hopeless." She took another swing at Thalia, but Luke reached across and blocked it. She pushed him back and sweep kicked him again. This time however, she knocked him off balance and lunged at him. But he leaned over backwards placed one hand against the ground and back flipped, kicking Kelli in the chin as he did so, and lept backwards and landed on his feet. Thalia came in form the side and jabbed a few times with her spear. Kelli ducked and tried to slash at her feet but Thalia stepped to the side and tried to stab her, but Kelli moved lithely out of the way. Luke slashed at her with his sword, but she blocked it and counterattacked, she slashed madly with her brass claws and they raked across Luke's face, tearing into the side with the scar and reopening the old wound, blood began to flow from it.

Thalia screamed in rage and unleashed a torrent of lightning from her hand, and Kelli was blasted over and recoiled quickly for another attack and launched a flurry of slashes with her blade.

Just as she backed up for another attack, Luke and Thalia moved in incredible tandem, they spun around each other twice and extended their weapons as Kelli charged, causing her to impale herself on their blades. Their weapon arms were overlapped and almost interlocked.

"Sorry sweetheart, but you're not my type." he said, Thalia started laughing.

Kelli gave a shriek of pain and rage and burst into emerald flame then exploded into dust.

"Everybody stand back..." said Grover as he reared back and gave a mighty shout. The _dracaenae_ scurried away, back down the halls and up pillars, the hallway doors slammed and the door Kelli had been guarding opened. Monster dust coated the floor.

"Nice job Grover." said Silena, patting him on the back.

"Thalia, look." said Luke turning to her. "I can explain..."

"You don't have to." she said, looking at him. "We don't have time right now anyway. We need to keep going."

She turned around and began ascending the next flight of stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

Kronos Makes a Massive Mistake

We entered the Sarcophagus room, which was this giant room with a dais on the end of it. And on the dais was Kronos golden coffin. Four large torches stood in the corners of the room. In front of the dais, engraved in the middle of the room was a giant square with two circles inscribed within one another. It was in the center of the smaller circle where Kronos stood. An eerie light filled the room; we could all see the wounds we had inflicted on Kronos slowly healing.

"Alright guys, this is it." I told them, and they all nodded.

"It's time for me to fix my mistake." said Luke, raising his sword.

Thalia placed a hand on his shoulder. "Not alone. We'll do this together; we're a team, all of us."

For the second time in my life I looked at the people around me and I decided it wouldn't be so bad to die fighting along side friends like these. I looked at Luke who smiled.

"On your word." he said.

"Let's do this." I said.

And together, we charged.

Luke and I wasted no time in aiming straight for Kronos. Tyson pulled up a pillar and swung it at him while we kept him distracted and Lee started firing arrows from a distance. Beckendorf and Silena moved in from one side, Thalia and Clarisse from the other. Kronos swung his scythe in a solid circle around him and knocked us all back. The wings on Luke's shoes fluttered to life and he flew at Kronos and took a few swipes at the Titan Lord. Kronos grabbed him by the foot as he flew by and threw him into Thalia and Clarisse, all three landing in a heap on the ground. Lee took advantage of the opening and fired an arrow into a chink in his armor that went straight through his arm, Kronos rounded on Lee and prepared to fire a blast at him, but Annabeth slid behind him from out of nowhere and stabbed him in the ankle. The Titan turned towards her but Grover let out a shout that blew him over. Luke, Thalia, and Clarisse were back on their feet and back on the attack. Clarisse jumped into the air and tried to stab him in the head with her spear, but he slapped her aside. Tyson bellowed a war cry and charged at Kronos, but the Titan just jumped out of the way and kicked Tyson into a wall.

Beckendorf caught Clarisse and she lunged back at Kronos, and would have been hit again but Lee fired another arrow at him. Nico clapped his hands and a few solid black spikes erupted from the ground, forcing Kronos to jump out of the way. Beckendorf jumped into the air and brought his hammer down on Kronos head as the Titan landed. It sounded like a gong being struck. Then there was a resounding crack as his helmet broke in half and fell away.

"It's Hammah Time!" he shouted.

His face was horrible. It looked like his head had been stitched back together with threads of darkness. His golden eyes gleamed menacingly, but he was stunned for the moment. And in that time I rushed at him.

It was just my luck that he regained his senses just as I was about to bury Riptide into his ugly mug. He raised his hand and I just stopped. I had been frozen in time. Kronos laughed and prepared to kill me but suddenly a butterfly knife flew through the air and straight through his forearm. I began moving again and Kronos raised his blade to block mine and the we started going at it, one on one. I'd try to stab him; he'd block and smack me with the butt end of the scythe. He'd try to slice me with the scythe; I'd nail him with the butt of Riptides hilt. Kronos raised his scythe to defend against my strikes and we kept dueling. Kronos smacked me and knocked me over.

Luke flew in under his defense and started swinging wildly at him. Kronos blocked a few of the strikes but not all of them; a few gashes appeared in his armor. Their blades met one final time and Luke turned his blade and the scythe flew out of his hands and embedded itself blade first into the ground. Kronos punched him in the stomach and threw him back but Thalia caught him and they fell over. Then he suddenly collapsed to his knees as his breast plate broke apart and feel from his torso. Ichor spilled from a large "X" shaped gash in his chest. He didn't get back up.

"How?!" Kronos rasped horribly.

"You underestimated me, Kronos." said Luke.

"But my plan was perfect-"

"You obviously didn't count on Luke's thick head." said Thalia, affectionately running a hand through his sandy hair as she wrapped an arm around him.

"Take the scythe, Percy." said Luke. "One hit from its blade will split his soul from his body, then impale the sarcophagus with it and end this."

I walked over and picked it up and walked over to Kronos. I studied its blade for a second. It seemed to be speaking to me, saying: _Take me, I can grant you power...._

"Percy..." Annabeth started.

But I cut her off as I swung the scythe across Kronos chest, a blue whisp followed the blade as it moved and as I finished the cut, the whisp sunk into the blade. Kronos' body fell over and began to dissolve into dust that blew away on the winds. I walked up to the coffin and prepared to embed the shimmering blue blade into the gold surface. I turned and looked at my friends. From Annabeth, to Grover, to Thalia and Luke, to Clarisse, Beckendorf, Lee and Silena, and finally to Nico. They all nodded. And I swung.

I was immediately blasted back by the force of the coffin exploding. Blue light filled the air and Luke closed his eyes and smiled as he grabbed hold of Thalia's wrist. Whisps of the blue light began to fly back into the ground as the howls and wails of Kronos echoed as he was dragged back to the pit. We all watched as the last of the essence vanished into the ground. Suddenly, the ground began to shake.

"What's going on?" asked Nico.

"It's Kronos." said Luke. "His last act is trying to bring Mount Orthys down on us. We have to get out, _NOW_."

That's when we started running. As we descended the flights of stairs we heard the Sarcophagus Room collapse above us. A large section of the wall fell off beside us, but we kept running. As we entered the throne room we could see the various creatures of the fortress running for their lives. The ceiling of the throne room was beginning to crack. A large lock fell on several fleeing _dracaenae_ and crushed them. A group of giants saw us and lumbered towards us. Luke growled in anger.

"We don't have _time_ for this!" he said, as the sound of crashing filled the air as the staircase behind the throne was buried in rubble. Dust billowed down the hallways on the sides of the room as the fortresses side wings collapsed. The giants were momentarily distracted.

Nico clapped his hands and five jet black stone pillars burst from the ground under the giants and pinned them to the crumbling ceiling.

"Nice one Nico." said Grover and patted him on the back.

"Compliment later, run now!" said Thalia, as we took off down the main hallway. The ceiling of the throne room behind us fully collapsed and I knew it wouldn't be long before the hallway we were in would collapse as well. We got close to the huge front door and we all jumped out of the fortress and hit the ground as the massive hallway collapsed behind us with a mighty crash. Dust and bits of flying marble filled the air as the last of Mount Orthys fell into ruins.

It was over. It was finally over. We had defeated Kronos, saved Luke and the world, what could go wrong?

Well, for one thing none of us could get up. Luke was probably drifting in and out of consciousness; Grover had somehow landed in a way that caused his head to get buried in the dirt.

"I hurt in places that don't exist." muttered Luke.

"I feel you there." I responded, as Grover struggled to extract his head from the ground. I saw Thalia extend her hand and grabbed Luke's. He looked at her and smiled.

"I'm-" he started.

"Don't say it." she said.

I was marveled that any of us could speak. Grover finally managed to extract his head and rolled like a wheel a few times before landing on Tyson. We all started laughing as we just lay there. Thalia managed to move a little closer to Luke and he ran a hand across her face.

Suddenly we heard the sound of hooves gallop up to us.

"_Di immortales!"_ muttered Chiron.

"It's over." I told him.

"Dude!" said one of the centaurs with him.

"We need to get them back to camp." said Chiron, picking up Annabeth and me. Then, I kind of, um, passed out.

When I came to, we were all lying in beds in the Big House. Luke had a few bandages across his scar. He looked like he was out cold.

"Thanks Percy." I heard him say. "I knew you wouldn't let me down."

I didn't know what to say. I wanted to punch him in the face, but I couldn't move and besides, he'd taken a hit for me and almost died because of it. I couldn't be mad at him. Not now that I knew the truth. Now as for the rest of the camp, that was a different story.

A few mornings later I heard shouts from outside. I opened the door and saw Luke surrounded by the Hermes cabin.

"You traitor!" shouted one, tripping him.

"How could you?" asked another, kicking him in the ribs.

"Go hurl yourself into Tartarus!" shouted Connor, grabbing his hair and shoving him over.

"Yeah, how dare you show your face here!" roared Travis.

"HEY!" I shouted running up to the group and getting between them and Luke. "Stop!"

"Why?" asked one kid. "He deserves it."

"_Deserves it?" _I asked, uncapping Riptide." And you're gonna deserve the cut you're about to-"

Suddenly a hand grabbed my arm. I turned around and saw Luke struggling to his feet beside me.

"No Percy. They're right." he said. "I _do_ deserve it." he started to limp away. I gave them all one last scowl and followed him.

"Why didn't you even try to defend yourself?" I asked.

"Why? And deny my fellow campers the right to beat me senseless for trying to kill them?" he replied looking at me.

"But you-"

"Percy please, save it." said Luke. "They have every right to not forgive me and even disown me, which, they have."

"Disown?"

"Yeah. The Hermes cabin has disowned me, refused to let me in, not that I blame them. Looks like I'll be sleeping in the woods tonight."

"No." I said. "You'll stay in Cabin Three with me and Tyson."

This one gets a little crappy towards the end, but I suck at endings. As always reviews welcome.


	4. Chapter 4

The Council of the Gods

Life at Camp Half Blood didn't start going back to normal right away. Chiron said the gods wanted us to be a part of a tribunal, or a council, something like that. I wasn't paying attention when Chiron was explaining it which probably wasn't wise on my part.

As far as I knew the gods were calling a council to debate on how to handle the aftermath of Kronos and for all I knew, our fates. Luke was nervous, and understandably so. He was responsible, he felt as if it was all his fault and as we got out of the van in front of the Empire State Building his mood darkened even further.

"There's no way they'll let me live." he said gloomily.

Thalia put her hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be okay." she said.

"By all accounts I shouldn't even be here." he said straightening his tie nervously. We were all wearing our best. The guys were in suits and the girls were in skirts and heels, except for Clarisse who was wearing a womans military uniform. Even Chiron had dressed for the occasion. When we all got into the elevator to go to the six hundreth floor a somber mood fell. Thalia started fretting with Lukes hair, which since the battle at Mt. Orthys had taken on a constant wind-swept look and refused to lie flat. She was worried, we all were.

The elevator stopped and we got out, Chiron emerged from his collapsable whellchair into his horse form. It was weird to see a centaur wearing a suit. As we started towards the palace, the mood got even darker. As he passed by all activity stopped.

"Rather ominous wouldn't you say?" asked Lee.

"Could you _possibly _think of a way to make me feel _any _worsethan I do _already_?" asked Luke darkly.

"Sorry man." said Lee patting Luke on the shoulder.

We arrived at the palace and entered through the front doors. At the entryway to the throne room Luke stopped.

"You guys go on ahead; I'll wait here." he said. "I'm pretty sure they don't want to see me at the moment."

We all nodded to him as we entered.

All twelve Olympians sat upon their thrones looking solemn. If the mood could have gotten any darker, it probably would have.

"Well, well, well." said Zeus. "I believe we face a dilhema."

"I don't know what you're talking about." said Apollo. "These kids were awesome!"

"All the same-" said Ares, but he was silenced when Zeus raised his hand.

"Let's get this over with." he said.

"But-"

Zeus glared at him.

"First order of business." he said, picking up a sheet of paper. "Kronos himself. I believe we are all in agreement that better precautions must be taken." they all nodded. "Any ideas?"

"A few barriers would be helpful." said Demeter. "Though I doubt he'll be able to stir anytime soon."

"And maybe a few sets of specially made doors along the tunnel to the pit where Kronos is kept." said Artemis. "A task I believe Hephaestus could achieve rather easily."

"A task I would be more than happy to accomplish." said the Forge Master.

"And maybe some guards to keep watch over the doors." said Ares."I reccomend to Spartans."

"I don't recall anyone asking for _your _opinion Ares." said Hermes.

"Now Hermes, let's try to be sensible." said Demeter.

"Before we begin making any plans I believe it would be wise to ask Lord Hades his opinions." said Athena.

"I will more than happy to accomodate any sort of defenses around Tartarus." said Hades. "And I will even commisson Daedalus to aid Hephaestus in building those doors. So long as it ensures that something like this _never_ happens again, I will aid in any way I can. "

"What about the creatures within Tartarus that Kronos unleashed?" asked Aphrodite.

"I will see to that personally, you have my word." said Hades.

"Then are we agreed that any ideas for defenses are to be forwarded to Hephaestus?" said Zeus.

They all nodded.

"Excellent." he said checking something off on the paper. "Next order of business: These children." He motioned to us.

"I believe they should be rewarded." said Artemis. "They have done us many a great service."

"I think they're dangerous." said Ares.

"How elloquent you are, Ares." said Athena.

"I say again, I will see them rewarded!"said Artemis.

"Seconded." said Apollo.

"I object!" said Ares. "These children could try to overhtrow us sometime in the future.

"Very well." said Zeus, "The matter of the fate of the children is closed. They are allowed to live. I myself believe that these children have rendered us a service far greater than any reward can equate."  
"Now we only have one order of business left to deal with." said Zeus. "What to do with Luke."

"I have already expressed my opinions on this matter." said Hermes curtly. "No one is vaporizing my son."

"I agree with Hermes on the matter." said Athena.

"Athena?!" said Ares. "You usually abstain!"

"So I do Ares." said Athena, "But the there is a time and place for abstention and this is not one of them."

"The boy set Kronos free!" Ares shouted.

"Becoming the vessel for a Titan was punishment enough." said Artemis calmly.

"Artemis has a point." said Apollo, "Look at what happened to him _after_ Kronos was destroyed."

"That's _hardly_ the point!" Ares roared, "He was on Kronos' side the _entire_ time!"

"And let us not forget, Ares," said Athena, "That _you_ sided with Kronos _twice_ during the duration of this conflict. It is not the boys treachery that disturbs me, but yours."

"I-I-I-" Ares started.

"What's wrong Ares?" asked Hephaestus. "Owl got your tongue?"

"Quiet cripple!" shouted Ares. "The boy tried to destroy us all!"

"I have already taken full responsibility for his actions." said Hermes.

"You've been playing favorites Hermes." said Ares wrathfully, rising to his feet. "Haven't you already stated that the boy is your pride and joy?"

"Hark who's talking! At least I _claim_ my children, Ares!" Hermes shouted rising to his feet as well and pointing at the war god. "Let us not forget that most of the undecided children who reside in the Hermes cabin at Half-Blood Hill are _yours!"_

"What are you trying to say Feather-Brain!?" asked Ares.

"I'm saying that the only children you sire that you _bother _to claim are the ones who take after you." said Hermes. "Proud, egotistical, and warlike, and you say that _I _play favorites?!"

"You risked direct intervention to save his life!" bellowed Ares." You broke the rules!"

"And think about what would've happened if I hadn't?!" shouted Hermes. I had to admit, after all the time Hermes had seemingly ignored Luke, he sure was fighting hard to save him.

"Besides." said Athena. "Hermes did not break the rules. He acted _through_ his son. And close to direct intervention though it was, the ends justify the means."

"The boy also circumvented my realm to unleash the essence of Kronos." said Hades. "I_ demand_ justice!"

"You would demand justice regardless of circumstance!" said Poseidon.

"Yeah, now go home and play WOW" said Hermes.

"I still say the boy should be destroyed!" bellowed Ares.

"That is not for you to decide!" shouted Hera. "It is up to my husband to pass judgment."

"ENOUGH!" roared Zeus so loudly his voice shook the room. "It is my place to pass judgment and pass judgment I shall. Chiron, send in the boy."

Chiron left the room and came back a few moments later ushering Luke, who walked up to the thrones, bowed to each god in turn then fell on one knee.

"Well, boy," said Zeus. "It is time for you to face judgment for your actions. Have you anything to say?"

"Nothing." said Luke.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing save that whatever this Council decides should be my fate is far better than what I deserve. I deserve far worse."

"You bet you do." sneered Ares, but he quieted after a hard glare form Zeus.

"True as that may be, you have no wish to offer defensive testimony?" asked Zeus.

"Defense given to save ones own hide from justice is just as hollow as escaping justice itself." said Luke. Athena glanced down at him admirably.

"Very well." said Zeus. "Luke Castellan, you have been charged with high treason against Olympus, conspiracy, sedition, theft, murder, attempted murder, release of entities of darkness, assault of an Olympian, unauthorized and illegal use of a Forge, vandalism, breaking of high cosmic bi-laws, illegal transport of deadly creatures, and J-walking. Do you understand the severity of these charges?"

"I do." said Luke, continuing to stare at the ground.

"Very well then." said Zeus. "Bearing in mind the circumstances in which these crimes were committed, all in favor of obliteration?"

Ares and Hades raised their hands, but Ares quickly lowered his when he saw he had little support.

"All in favor of dropping all charges?"

Numerous hands went up. Hermes, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Hephaestus, Poseidon, Hera, even Zeus. Dionysus abstained.

"We have a majority." said Zeus. "Luke Castellan, you are cleared of the charges, BUT as your sentence, you MUST take a pilrimedge to EVERY spot sacred to the Olympians, so this way you may cleanse yourself of all taint of Kronos. Call it an act of attonement. Besides, trying to patch things up with your cousins will be difficult enough."

"What?" said Luke in total shock, looking up.

"You see boy," said Zeus, "Despite the fact that you fell from the path-"

"More like plummeted." said Hephaestus.

"Be that as it may," Zeus continued. "You still managed to find your way back. Your reasoning may have been a little flawed-"

"A little?" asked Hephaestus.

"Will you let me finish?!" thundered Zeus. "You proved vital in sending Kronos back to Tartarus. And Hephaestus I swear, if you say one more word I'll throw you off this mountain, _again..._"

"And also, child," said Athena, "You have also shown us that while we still cannot interfere directly in mortal affairs, or _every_ time you kids have a problem, it wouldn't hurt to give you a little attention from time to time."

Hermes walked down from the thrones and shrunk down to normal size. He put his hands on Luke's shoulders.

"I know it's a little late to start acting like a father, but give me a chance... I'll stop by Camp Half Blood or wherever you are and we'll bond, Ok? I'll ever go visit your mother, just, give me a second chance, Ok, I want to get to know you son."

"I-I-I guess..." Luke said, shocked and Hermes pulled him into a hug.

I tunred to the rest of my friends to see they were all smiling.

"Let the celebration begin!" thundered Zeus.

Ok, I've decided to give ya'll a choice. I know some of you were a little confused by the beginning and some stuff inbetween, so vote on the poll on my profile or message me. If I get enough "yes" votes by mid-December, than I'll write whatever information you need.


	5. Chapter 5

We Celebrate our Victory

I thought the first Olympian Party I had been to was amazing, this one blew my mind. The feast started with a few toasts. But I wasn't paying attention they were so boring. Nico was flicking peas across the table but that stopped abruptly when one of them accidently went rouge and hit Ares, who hurled a fireball at us and singed our tables. This prompted a bout of retaliation from Luke who used his new air manipulation powers at send his soup flying into his face. That would have started an entire fist fight had Athena not gotten up to speak and almost put everyone to sleep with a lengthy toast composed of several very big words that no one really understood. When she was done, Annabeth gave all of us the kind of look that scorches and we all decided that for the sake of our health it would be best to applaud.

Then the real entertainment started. The Muses turned up teh music so loud the only way you could hear each other was to stand in tight close knit groups. Some of the nymphs had taken to dancing ancient Greek dance to get the rest of us into it, Ares was already Tangoing with an attractive young drayd amid withering glares from Aphrodite. Dionysus was walking around with his wife Adria, Percy was congratgulated by god after god, demigod after demigod, and found myself surrounded and in need of an escape so I slipped away and tried to find a restroom. While on my way there I saw my dad talking to Luke. They seemed deep in discussion. I went the long way around the room and hid in a corner behind them to hear what they were saying.

"I don't think they'll ever be able to forgive me." said Luke.

"Don't think like that." said Posideon. "It'll only bring you down more."

"I hurt so many people, did so many unspeakable things..."

"Haven't we all. I know I have."

"I was just so angry..."

"I know." said my father. "Anger makes people do stupid things. Anger can even make gods do stupid things. The important thing is knowing how to distinguish between what anger makes us do and what we choose to do ourselves."

"I broke Thalia and Annabeth's hearts."

"I'm sure you've broken a few more than that if you think about it."

"I know. My father, my mother, but, those two are different."

"How so?"  
"Well, Annabeth, always looked up to me. And Thalia-" Luke stopped.

"Ah." said Posideon. "I get it. That's not my department. For that talk to Aphrodite. Pray to catch a large fish, then I can help you, but love, not my thing if you know what I mean."

"Mother Reha must be proud." said Luke smiling.

"Ouch, that one stung a little." My father said, starting to laugh.

"But what about Percy, I mean I, tried to kill him so many times. I betrayed him so many times."

"But you also helped him alot to. Wether you realize it or not, taking Kronos into your body helped us more than it did him. Percy's stubborn, but not that stubborn. He won't trust you completely again at first, but give him a little time. He'll come to understand."

"Thalia?"

"I think if you look hard enough you'll see she's already forgiven you. She'll never admit it of course, not for a while anyway. She knows why you did what you did, she didn't at first, and even then she did she didn't fully understand., but she does now. And that's what matters."

"My father?"

"Hermes is a flighty little rascal. give him a couple of years and he'll probably forget the whole thing ever happened, the little air head. He is your father after all. You've been his pride and joy since the beginning. He was hurt yes, but he understands why now. You showed him that being a father is about more than just family ties. He owes you alot."

"One last question." said Luke.

"Shoot." said my father.

"When the other gods were debating what to do with me, why didn't you speak up?"

My father stepped in front of Luke, knelt down and looked him square in the eye.

"Why?" he said. "Because I had already told them how I felt. I've told them time and time again to have a little faith that all this would turn out alright in the end. How bad is it when a god looses faith? Luke, I had told the others how I felt about this situation ad nauseum. They already knw how I was going to vote long before the issue even arose at council. I have never once believed you were evil Luke, never once. Now I want you to do something for me. I want you to go and have a nice long talk with your father." He patted Luke on the shoulder and sent him on his way.

"You can come out now Percy." he said.

The command started me so much I fell over, knocking over a potted plant.

"Were you listening?"

"Maybe."

"We'll have to work on that."

"Why is Luke so afraid?"

"Percy, try to imagine how he feels." my father told me, putting an arm around my shoulder and leading me down the corridor in the opposite direction form the celebratory feast. "He surrendered to Kronos thrall, rasied an army against his own family, remade an artifact that was better left in pieces, and then gave his own body to a Titan Lord, which I'm going to hazard a guess is not the most pleasent feeling or experience in the world. He had his free will stripped, yes, but how do you convince others of that? How do you descirbe what he went through to someone who doesn't have the ability to fathom it? Luke is afraid, and rightfully so. He has been touched and inhabited by a being so evil in a tie so close that it will be almost impossbile to completely sever. Even his act of visiting all the sacred places like Zeus has ordered him to do won't be able to remove _all_ the essence of Kronos."

We rounded a corner in the corridor.

"What does that mean?" I asked, trying to piece together what he meant.

"What that means is, He will probably retain a few of those powers, granted, to what extent remains to be seen, and that is the main reason why he is afraid. Not only because of the chance of total disownment by his cousins-"

"The Hermes kids have already disowned him." I said.

"True, true." said Posideon, "But let me finish. He is afraid that those powers he may retain could warp and twist him again. Granted, the powers Hermes awakened in him may be able to counteract that, but once again, we can never be sure."

"Will it ever be over for him?"

"Someday, maybe." he said as we rounded anther corner back towards the feast. "But I think there are plans for all of you. I don't know what they are, but I don't think your parts to play in this generation are done quite yet."

He opened the curtain to show the celebration in full swing. Nico had apparently had some sugar because he was hyped up and running all over the place. Nypmhs were dancing to the newest beat of the Muses.

"Things are about to get a little interesting..." my father said as he looked to our left. I looked as well and saw Thalia talking to Artemis. They appeared to be deep in discussion. A young drayd walked over to Luke and grabbed his hand and dragged him onto the dance floor. I saw Hermes and Aphrodite grinning consipitorially on the other side of the room. I couldn't help but wonder what kind of plot the goddess of love and the god of thieves had come up with.

The discussion between the moon goddess and Thalia seemed to become deeper.

"Very well. I suppose you do deserve it." said Artemis heavilly. "Go to him. I release you from your oath."

Thalia squealed and ran over to Luke, and as she did, she seemed to age, turning nineteen. She ran over to where Luke was dancing with the drayd and tapped the drayd on the shoulder. "May I cut in she asked?"

The drayd nodded and danced away. Thalia looked at Luke, the flung her arms around his neck and kissed him. Hermes and Aphrodite grinned as the goddess of love held out her fist and Hermes bumped it with his own.

"Go have some fun." my father told me, and waved me off.

I made a beeline strainght for Aphrodite and Hermes.

"Pleasure working with you Hermes." said Aphrodite.

"Ditto." said Hermes, and he turned and walked off.

"Well, well, well," said the love goddess when she saw me. "The big hero, congratulations."

"You do know Artemis is never going to forgive you for that." I told her.

"Pfft, who cares." she said casually. "Love conquers all. Besides, Thalia was never meant to be a Hunter."

"How do you know that?"

"She doesn't have the right look for it.."

"You forced them together didn't you?"

"I most certainly did not!" said Aphrodite, sounding offended. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. I just, helped things along, gave them a little nudge. That's usually all it takes. Love doesn't work if you force it."

"You've learned form experience?"

"Watch it Mister." she said. "Oh drat!"

"What?" I looked around and saw what she meant: Artemis was talking to Athena.

"APHRODITE!!!!" the moon goddess howled.

"Gotta go!" said Aphrodite dashing hastily from the room.

"When will she ever learn?" came a voice from behind me. I turned around and saw Hermes.

"You do know she'll rat you out right?"

The messenger god sighed. "Yes I know. I just wanted to thank you personally for saving Luke."

"You always knew I would didn't you?"

"Yes and no." said the Messenger. "A few things happened that suprised me, and I had to give him a little nudge towards the end, but everything worked out alright."

"Why did you decide to start answering his prayers then?"

"Call it a wake up call for me, call it the first in a long series of make-ups, call it whatever you wish."

"But what's next? My father said our parts weren't done yet."

"Don't ask me, I don't have the answers." he put a hand on my shoulder and turned me around so that I saw my friends, who were talking and laughing and having the time of thier lives. "They do, and so do you. They might not realize it yet, and niether may you, but stick together and I'm sure you can tackle anything that might came your way."

"That's unusally wise of you, Hermes"

"That's what you get for hanging around with Athena for who knows how long.".

I looked at my friends again.

"Don't take them for granted Percy, some day they may become your geatest asset." Then the Messenger was gone.

I smiled as I walked back towards my friends, Beckendorf had somehow gotten ahold of a digital camera, or maybe made one, and they were all taking pictures.

"It feels good to be together again, I mean all of us." I heard Annabeth say beside me. She had appeared out of nowhere!

"Yeah, it does." I said smiling at her. "Hey Beckendorf, where's Silena?"

"Freshening up for the group shot." he said. "I swear sometimes she's so- oh wait, here she comes."

"Sometimes I can be so what, Charles?"

"Nothing." said Charles.

"No" said Silena wagging her finger at him. "You were about to say something., and I want to know what it is!"

"Oh shut up and let's take the picture Drama Queen." said Luke, grabbing Nico by the back of his neck as he ran by, and pulling him over. "_You_ are going to sit still for a few seconds while we do this ok?

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." said Nico, sitting down.

"Ok, on the count of three." said Beckendorf setting the camera and running over to where they all sat.

Luke put his arm around Thalia and she put a hand on his chest. Beckendorf put a hand around Silena and she grabbed his arm. Annabeth threw her arms around my neck as the camera went off. Beckendorf walked over to the table and picked it up.

"Perfect!" he said, showing it to us. It was perfect. I told Beckendorf when he got it developed I wanted a copy.

Chiron cantered over to us.

"Shall we go?" he asked. "It's getting late and you kids must be tired."

We all nodded and as the gods saw us off, we left Olympus.

I know things get a little strange here, but bear with me. I'm currently juggling two stories at once, this one and another for PJO. Rember to vote in the poll on my profile if you need some prequel information! Enough "yes" votes by mid-December means prequel!


	6. Chapter 6

Life gets Back to Normal, 

Sort of...

When we all got back to Camp Half Blood, we were exhausted.

Luckily, Chiron had given all of us permission to stay in Cabin Three to ensure we got some sleep. He told us he had had extra beds set up in the cabin for all of us. We all trudged sleepily back to the cabin. Lee and Nico were leaning on Beckendorf for support to keep from falling over. Grover was sleep walking beside Tyson which is pretty funny is you've never seen a saytr sleep walk.

I'm not sure when everybody else went to sleep, but I know Luke was out before all of us. As soon as he entered the cabin, he collapsed snoring onto the floor and probably would have stayed there if Tyson hadn't picked him up and placed him gently onto a bed before collapsing onto his own, snoring loudly. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

At one point I woke up because Tyson was snoring so loudly he was shaking the cabin. Luke, Annabeth and Thalia had their heads sandwiched in their pillows and Nico had his fingers in his ears. Lee finally had enough when he picked up his bow, attached a large suction cup to an arrow and shot it at him, covering his mouth and stifling the noise before dropping his bow and going back to sleep.

I woke up again when Beckendorf started snoring. This earned him a prompt beating and telling off from Thalia after Luke pushed him out of his bed and onto the floor with a loud _thud. _Silena sat up and told us all to shut up before laying down again.

I heard Luke mutter and swear in ancient Greek in his sleep a few times. It couldn't be easy for him after being Kronos's host for so long. He was probably having nightmares but his body wouldn't let him wake up. He was too weak, too tired.

The next day most of us got up, but Luke stayed in bed. Not that any of us could blame him, after everything he'd been through now that he had a decent chance to rest, I couldn't blame him for taking it. During those five days Thalia rarely strayed far from his side. They would talk during the brief times he was awake. As much as Thalia tried to deny it, seeing Luke that wiped out and in that much pain must have been tearing her apart. Some of us had guessed it because every time we offered to help her, she refused immediately. It seemed she had taken the task of nursing him back to some semblance of health soley upon herself. Apologies were exchanged often between the two, as were tears. He consistantly apologized for betraying her and she apologized for telling him she hated him. The cliff incident was mentioned often. Annabeth and I would sometimes stand outside the cabin door while they were talking. That would work until one of us, usually me, would make some kind of noise and Thalia would burst out of the cabin hurling lightning bolts at us. I often found it odd that I was being chased away from my own cabin.

That wasn't the end of it for any of us. The fact that we sympathized with Luke meant we were ostracizied by most of the camp. I woke up one morning to find the word "traitor" had been painted across the front of the cabin. Thalia took it upon herself to go on a no-holds-barred mission to find the offender and shocked him into submission, all the while swearing in ancient Greek. After the twenty third time of having lightning bolts thrown at us and having a thunderstorm chase us half way across the camp, Annabeth and I decided to leave the two alone. Grover was tortured by the other saytrs, but he didn't seem to mind, because all he had to do was give one shout and all of them would one occasion Beckendorf cleared out the forges with a few swings of his hammer after some of the other Hephaestus kids messed up a few of his projects.

After five days of rest Luke was finally able to get up and he seemed to be as good as new, granted, the whole camp hated his guts, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, it seemed like he didn't care at all. It appeared that as long as he had Thalia by his side (as was often the case.) and the support of the rest of us, nothing could shake him. But as for how long that would last, none of us knew, summer was drawing to a close.

On the morning of the last day of summer, We all started packing, Luke was getting ready to leave on his, as he had come to phrase it, his "Voyage of Attonement". We had all gone to Half Blood Hill to see him off. Thalia was in tears, the two stood there, hugging for thirty minutes, both of them putting off saying good-bye.

"You will write me won't you?" she asked him tearfully, wringing his neck tightly.

"As often as I can." He told her, pulling a large tablet of paper out of the carry-on he was holding.

"I'm going to miss you."

"And I'm going to miss you too." he told her. "But don't let it get to you, don't think about it too much. Do that and I'll be back before you know it."

"I'm going to cry everyday, you know that right?" she said.

Luke laughed and pulled her into his arms. "It's going to be OK, I promise."

"But-"

"T, I have to go." he told her. "I'm going to miss my flight."

Thalia started pouting.

Then he turned to me and Annabeth.

"Thank you both so much, from the bottom of my heart."

"Don't worry about it." I told him, but Annabeth threw her arms around his neck in a friendly hug.

"You'd better write me too, if you don't I'll never forgive you."she said, a serious look in her stormy gray eyes.

"The scary thing is, that I actually believe that." Luke said laughing.

"So....See you when I see you then?" I asked him.

"Of course, you'll be getting letters too." He told me.

I extended my arm and he grabbed my wrist and I grabbed his. Then he pulled me and Annabeth in close. "And look after T-girl for me." he whispered.

"Will do." we told him. Then he released us and went back over to Thalia.

"Good-bye, babe." he told her, pulling her into one last hug, then released her and started to walk away.

"G-Go-Goo-" Thalia started, tears filling her eyes, but Luke turned around, held her chin up, wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed her square on the lips.

Thalia stood there for a moment with a shocked look on her face as Luke backed away she smiled at him and nodded as he walked away. At the bottom of the hill, he turned back and waved at us, then he got into the Three Sisters Taxi and was gone.

As we all went back to finish packing, Thalia feel into a bout of pouting.

The ride back into the city on the van was solemn. Thalia was gazing out the window, probably looking for planes. I was actually suprised at how far Luke had come in such a short time. As we pulled up to my apartment, I got out, but so did Annabeth. We walked up to the doorstep and we stopped.

"You take care of yourself, Seaweed Brain." she told me.

"You too, Wise Girl."

"And actually _call _me this time when you say you will."

"Of course."

"And don't do anything stupid."

"I'll try."

"Don't 'try', just do it."

"Of course."

"Good-bye, Percy, see you next summer."

"You too, Annabeth."

We exchanged one last kiss and she walked away as I entered my apartment. Life was finally back to normal.

Ok, I've gotten enough "yes" votes to warrant some prequel info. Not quite sure how I'm going to wrangle that yet, but I'm working on it.

Oh, and I'm, working on another story, so keep an eye out for more of my stuff! And be sure to vote on the new pole on my profile if you want to hear about Luke's little excursion!

And if you ever want this story re-posted, message me!


	7. Chapter 7

Ok, I wasn't sure how I was going to do this, so untill I can organize it into something decent, I'll be posting prequel info in snip-its. I didn't want to keep ya'll waiting too long. So here are the first couple bits. Enjoy!

Hints of Rebellion:

What I saw and heard scared me.

Luke stood before the pit and in the pit were a pair of deep, blazing gold eyes.

"You've been helping him." he said.

"So what if I have. It _is _still _my _body. Remember that."

"You dare to defy ME!"

"How quickly we forget, my _lord._" I could detect a hint of condescension and even sarcasm in his voice. "You wouldn't be here if not for me. You owe me more than you think."

"I owe you nothing!" spat Kronos.

"We shall see." said Luke. "You mark my words, I _will _help bring about your downfall."

"You cannot escape me.

Background for "The Choice":

As I drfited off to sleep I found my thought drifting and turning. Then my mind cleared,

I was in the throne room. Luke was sitting on the throne.

"PERCY!" he ran up to me, I tried to punch him in the face, but couldn't move. My rage held me still.

"Look, I know you must hate me, _ALOT-"_

"That's not even half of it." I said.

"I know. And I'm not asking you to forgive me. I'm not asking you to trust me, but you _have _to. I don't have long before Kronos seizes control again. I _have _to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Why I joined Kronos." he said. "He-he threatened to kill you if I didn't. After you got to camp, he came to me in those nightmares, he told me to lure you to him. When I refused he threatened to kill you."

"You joined to _save _me?!" I shouted. "You tried to _kill _me?!"

"Percy, that wasn't me, well it was me, but not _me-me._" he said.

"Why should I help you? Why should I trust you?"

"You shouldn't. I wouldn't blame you if you don't."

"But why now? Why ask this after everything you've done?"

"Like I said all that wasn't actually me."

"Kronos was in control." I said. Suddenly it all made sense. "What can I do?"

"Use that spell Nico told you. But don't use it until exactly the right moment. I'm not saying you have to, it's your choice Percy. If you want to-"

"No, if there's a chance we can free you, I'll take it. Annabeth would never forgive me if I killed you."

Luke looked at the ground.

"But how will I know when the right time is?"

"I'll show you. I'll try to make is as obvious as I can. I'll also try to blind his all-seeing eyes from this side-" suddenly he looked up. "I have to go. Don't let me down kiddo."

Then I woke up. Now I knew the truth. Luke had betrayed us to save _my _life, he hadn't meant the pit scorpion to kill me, just to make it seem like he'd made an _effort _to kill me.. After he _let _us escape from the _Princess Andromeda_, Kronos had seized control of his mind as punishment. Instantly I felt so bad for hating his guts all this time. He'd risked it all to save _me. _And how had I repayed him? I'd told him I hated his guts, I'd tried to kill him. I'd thought he deserved death more than anyone, I felt _awful._


End file.
